Barrel lifter attachment for fork lift trucks



Marel. 11,'1958 w, A QSEHN 2,826,322

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United States Patent O BARREL LIFTER ATTACHMENT FOR FORK LIFT TRUCKS William A. Posehn, Sacramento, Calif. Application April 30, 1956, Serial No. 581,753

Claims. (Cl. 214-620) This invention relates to and in general has for its object the provision of a barrel lifter attachment for fork lift trucks.

Although lift trucks are presently available wherein the usual forks have been replaced by barrel lifting clamps, such equipment cannot be used as a lift fork truck without iirst disassembling the lifting clamps and re-equipping the truck with forks.

More specifically, the object of this invention is the provision of a barrel lifter attachment which can be engaged by the forks of a lift truck in exactly the same fashion as a pallet, and then detachably secured to the mast of the truck.

A further object of this invention isthe provision of a barrel lifter attachment comprising a frame or platform provided with fork-receiving entryways and with a pair of parallel, spring biased, rotatable arms or rails extending outwardly therefrom and arranged to snugly straddle an upright barrel at a point beneath one of its circumferential beads or corrugations.

The invention possesses other advantageous features, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth at length in the following description where that form of the invention which has been selected for illustration in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the present specification, is outlined in full. In said drawings, one form of the invention is shown, but it is to be understood that it is not limited to such form, since the invention as set forth in the claims may be embodied in other forms.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan plan view of a barrel lifter attachment embodying the objects of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the attachment illustrated in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of my attachment shown in its operative position about a barrel.

The attachment as shown in these various ligures com prises a fabricated, generally rectangular platform or frame, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, including a pair of parallel, transversely spaced, downwardly facing channels 2 and 3 welded at their ends to a pair of parallel, transversely extending and intervening, downwardly facing channels 4 and 5. Welded over the lower open faces of the channels 2 and 3 are plates 6 and 7, thereby forming longitudinally extending, closed forkways 8 and 9 for the reception of the conventional fork tines 11 and 12 of a conventional fork lift truck 13. Similarly welded over the open faces of the transverse channels 4 and 5 are stiffening plates 14 and 15.

After welding to each of four rectangular plates 16, 17, 18, and 19 cylindrical bearing sleeves 21, 22, 23, and 24, the two sets of pairs of plates 16 and 17, and 18 and 19, are welded to the top faces of the channels 2 and 3, each pair of sleeves 21 and 22, and 23 and 24, being coaxially aligned and axially spaced. Here it is to be noted that the intermediate plates 16, 17, 18, and 19 are resorted to simply for the reason that it is easier to rst Patented Mar. 11, 195s weld the sleeves to the plates, and then the plates to the channels, rather than to weld the sleeves directly to the channels.

Journaled in each pair of coaxial sleeves 21 and 22, and 23 and 24, are cylinders 25 and 26, and aixed to each of these cylinders immediately adjacent the inner ends of the sleeves are stop collars 27 serving to prevent the cylinders 25 and 26 from moving longitudinally within their bearing sleeves.

Formed in the forward end of each of the forward sleeves 22 and 24 is a notch 28 of predetermined length, and receivable and movable within the limits of each notch 28 is a pin 29 secured to and extending radially from each of the cylinders 25 and 26.

Secured to the forward protruding ends of the cylinders 25 and 26 are flat, parallel arms or rails 31 and 32 formed with outwardly Haring or beveled ends 33 and 34. Here it should-be noted that the transverse distance between the two rails 31 and 32 when their llat, inner sides lie in vertical planes should be slightly greater than the outer diameter of a barrel on which the lifter is designed to operate so that they can be made to snugly straddle the barrel when the barrel is in an upright position. Also, it should be noted that the outer ends of the rails or arms 31 and 32 are outwardly ared for the purpose of enabling the rails to more readily ind the barrel.

Welded to the cylinders 25 and 26 intermediate the inner ends of their bearing sleeves are lever arms 35 and 36, and pivoted respectively thereto are links 37 and 38. Pivoted to the link 38 is a turnbuckle 39, and secured to and between the turnbuckle and the link 37 is a tension spring 41 serving to bias the upper edges 42 and 43 of the arms or rails 32 and 31 inwardly towards each other, as viewed in Fig. 3, into clamping engagement with a barrel 45 immediately below one of its circumferential beads 46.

Secured to the upper rear plate 14 is a pair of ears 47 and 48, and pivoted thereto is a hook 49 arranged to hook over one of the cross members S1 of the mast 52 of the lift truck 13 when the attachment is mounted in its operative position on the forks 11 and 12 of the truck.

Operation Assuming that the attachment above described is mounted on the forks of a lift truck and secured thereto v by the hook 49, its rails 31 and 32 can be forced into straddling engagement with an upright barrel. When moving into this position the upper edges 42 and 43 of the rails 31 and 32 are forced slightly outwardly against the biasing action of the spring 41. Otherwise considered, the spring 41 serves to maintain the edges 42 and 43 in snug engagement with the barrel. It should here be noted that the upper, inner edges 42 and 43 of the rails should be sharp rather than rounded and that the tension of the spring 41 should be sul'iciently great to preclude the lifting rails 31 and 32 from riding over the barrel bead 45. The pin 29 and notches 28 simply serve to determine the inwardmost positions of the rails 31 and 32, or in other words, to maintain the rails at a suicient inclination to permit the ready positioning of the rails into straddling engagement with the barrel.

The rails 31 and 32 are `detached from a barrel by depositing the barrel on the ground or other support and then merely backing the lift truck away from the barrel. This of course means that the tension on the spring 41 should not be so great as to preclude this operation.

lf it be desired to then use the lift truck in a conventional way, its forks are lowered so as to permit the attachment to rest on the ground; the hook 49 is disengaged; and the truck is backed away from the attachment.

l claim:

l. A barrel lifting attachment for a fork lift truck comprising: a frame; a pair of transversely spaced, parallel arms mounted on said frame, each for rotation relative to each other and to said frame on axes parallel to said arms, said arms extending substantially beyond the confines of said frame and arranged to straddle an upright barrel beneath the peripheral beads thereof; spring means for urging said arms to rotate about said axes in opposite directions; means for spacing said frame from the ground to thereby permit the insertion therebeneath of the fork of said fork lift truck in parallelism with said arms; and means for detachably securing said frame to said fork lift truck.

2. A barrel lifting attachment for a fork lift truck comprising: a frame arranged to be picked up by and secured to said fork lift truck; a pair of transversely spaced, parallel bearing sleeves secured to said frame, said sleeves lying in a generally horizontal plane; a cylinder journaled in each of said sleeves; means for preventing said cylinders from moving longitudinally within said sleeves and for limiting their rotational movement within said sleeves; a barrel-engaging arm fixed to each of said cylinders in parallelism therewith and extending outwardly substantially beyond the confines of said frame, said arms being arranged to straddle an upright barrel beneath one of its beads; and spring means for urging said cylinders to rotate toward each other.

3. A barrel lifting attachment for a fork lift truck comprising: a platform provided with means for receiving the fork of a lift truck and arranged to be lifted by said truck; means for detachably securing said platform to said truck when said platform is operatively engaged by said fork; a pair of transversely spaced, parallel arms journaled to said platform and extending outwardly therefrom, said arms being arranged to snugly straddle an upright barrel beneath one of its peripheral beads; and spring means for urging said arms to rotate towards each other.

4. An attachment such as dened in claim 3, wherein said arms are relatively flat and are outwardly flared at their outer ends, thereby to enable said arms to more readily find said barrel.

5. A barrel lifting attachment for a fork lift truck comprising: a generally rectangular frame provided with a pair of transversely spaced, parallel entryways for the reception of the fork of a lift truck and by which said frame can be lifted by said fork; two transversely spaced pairs of coaxially spaced bearing sleeves mounted on said frame; a cylinder journaled in each pair of coaxial bearing cylinders; a barrel lifting rail fixed to one end of each of said cylinders in parallelism therewith and extending outwardly therefrom, said two rails being arranged to straddle an upright barrel beneath one of its peripheral beads; an arm fixed to and extending radially from each of said cylinders at a point intermediate its two bearing sleeves; a tension spring operating between said two arms; means for limiting the degree of rotation of said cylinders within their bearing sleeves; means for preventing said cylinders from moving axially within their bearing sleeves; and means for detachably securing said frame to said fork lift truck when said frame is supported by the forks of said truck.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNTED STATES PATENTS 2,739,009 Phillips Mar. 20, 1956 

